


Te Amo

by peggy_hamilton



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, joe can speak spanish, joe teaches george spanish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 13:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8626060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: In which Joe speaks Spanish and George needs a tutor.
Or, both of these losers are hopelessly in love and are oblivious





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Kirk Acevado speaking spanish as Miguel Alvarez in Oz. Also all these translations are off google so forgive any mistakes, translations at the bottom!

“Please,” George whined once more, “I really need your help or else I’m gonna fail this class.” 

Joe rolled his eyes, “I’ve got my own classes to revise for.” 

“C’mon, you know you’re passing them with flying covers. Just a few lessons, I’ll make it worth your while,” he grinned mischievously. 

“Oh, yeah? How?” Joe smirked. 

“Pizza, beer, cash if it suits you,” George smiled, “Please,” he batted his eyelashes. 

“Fine, come by my dorm later on and I’ll see what I can do,” he relented. 

“Thank you!” George jumped and pulled Joe into a tight hug which Joe had barely any time to return before the smaller man was gone and walking off down the hall. Joe tried to calm his beating heart, he had never been one for feelings but George Luz had managed to work his way past all of Joe’s barriers and he didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon.

  


 

 

“Hola, mi nombre es Joe. ¿Cuál es tu nombre?” Joe spoke as he looked down at the Spanish textbook George had brought along with him. 

“Mi nombre es George,” George struggled out, creasing his eyebrows as he concentrated on what the text book had said. 

“Good,” Joe gave him a small smile and George perked up at the praise. 

“Really?” 

Joe nodded, “Yeah, you’ve just mastered the most basic conversation to have in spanish. Congratulations.” 

“My mother would be so proud,” George nodded in agreement then broke out in a grin. “Okay, what else do I need to pass?” 

“The rest of the language.” 

George groaned and fell backwards onto Joe’s bed, “Do I have to?” 

“Yes.” 

“Can’t you just speak Spanish at me?” 

“Would you even understand it if I did?” Joe raised an eyebrow. 

“No,” George admitted, “But you sound hot when you do so that’s a plus.” 

Joe lightly kicked George’s leg and hoped that he wasn’t blushing, _pull yourself together, Toye,_ he thought and turned the page. “Alright,” he cleared his throat, “This is pretty easy it’s just about what’s around campus. So, que hay en tu colegio?” 

George sat up and chewed on his lower lip, trying to concentrate on speaking spanish and not on Joe’s jaw line. “Um, Ahi esta….dormitorios..y.. Aulas.” 

“¿Qué más hay ahí?” 

“What?” George blanked. 

“What else is there?” Joe supplied. 

“Oh us, there’s, um.. Hay una biblioteca,” he replied, though it was more of a question than a statement. 

Joe nodded, “Not bad.” 

George groaned and buried his head in his hands, “I’m gonna fail.” 

“You’re not gonna fail, you’re just new at this,” Joe shoved George’s shoulder to get him to look back up at him, “You just need to practice. Let’s go again. Hola, mi nombre es Joe. ¿Cuál es tu nombre?”

  
  


 

 

“How is this even going to help me if I ever went to Spain?” George complained as he threw the flashcards he had onto Joe’s bed. 

“It’s not,” Joe smirked, “But you need to know this shit to pass your class,” he looked down at the flashcards George had to memorise for his test tomorrow. “You ready?” 

“No.” 

“Hablame sobre ti.” 

“Mi nombre es George y soy de Rhode Island. Tengo nueve hermanos y hermanas, yo soy el mayor. Tengo el pelo marrón y los ojos marrones. En la escuela tomo clases de español e informática.” 

Joe gave him an encouraging smile, “Good, you got it all right. Now, Cuéntame sobre tu universidad.” 

“Mi universidad tiene dormitorios donde duermo, comparto mi habitación con mi amigo Frank. También hay un campo de fútbol, pero no voy allí porque no me gustan los deportes. Hay siete edificios en el campus, cada uno de ellos tiene cuatro pisos.” 

“You’re doing really well,” Joe nodded, rereading the flashcard in George’s messy handwriting to check he got everything right. He did. 

“That’s just cause I memorised it, I have no idea what I’m actually saying,” George admitted. 

Joe gave him a look, “So you’ve not actually been learning it?” 

“I have!” George defended, “Just, not all that much past the basic ‘hello, my name is George’ bullshit.” 

“I guess it means you’ll pass the test,” he sighed. Joe had no idea why he was so invested in George learning Spanish, well he did know and didn’t want to think about it. Teaching George Spanish meant they got to hang out almost every night but it did nothing to subside Joe’s growing feelings for him, Bill would never let him live it down if he found out but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to see George do well, and it was a bonus getting to listen to George speaking Spanish even if it was a little stunted. 

“Don’t blame me, Spanish is hard, hombre,” he gave Joe a shit eating grin. 

Joe scoffed, “It’s like the easiest language to learn.” 

George looked at Joe like he’d grown two heads, “Are you kidding me? We can’t all grow up speaking Spanish, I think it’s safe to say you have a certain advantage.” 

Joe ducked his head, “Shut up,” he mumbled, focusing intently on the last flashcard, “One more. ¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre?” 

“En mi tiempo libre me gusta hablar con mis amigos Joe y Carwood. Me gusta ver películas en el cine o colocar videojuegos en el fin de semana, desafortunadamente durante la semana tengo mucho trabajo de casa así que no consigo mucho tiempo libre.” 

“You say ‘películas’ wrong.” 

George scrunched up his nose, “How am I supposed to say it?” 

“Películas,” Joe repeated with the correct pronunciation. 

“Películas.” 

“ _Películas._ ” 

“Películas.” 

Joe nodded, “Yeah that’ll do.” 

George picked up his flashcards and read them over and stuffed them in his backpack, “Thank you so much, Joe. I couldn’t have done this without you,” he pulled him into a hug. 

Joe indulged himself and wrapped his arms around George, burying his head in his hair, “No problem,” he murmured. 

George pulled away much too soon for Joe’s liking making him feel cold, “I’ll see you around,” he bid his goodbye and left Joe alone in his room. Joe groaned and flopped down on his bed, why did he agree to do this? It hadn’t made his situation any better.

  
  


 

 

“Frank I’m an idiot,” George announced as he returned to his dorm. 

“I know,” Frank replied, not looking up from his laptop. 

George glared, “You’re meant to ask why, maybe deny it.” 

Frank gave a long suffering sigh, “Why are you an idiot?” 

“Joe.” 

Frank looked over at George, “I told you it was a bad idea.” 

“How was I supposed to know that he sounds really hot when he speaks Spanish?” 

“Christ, George, just ask him out already.” Frank was sick of George coming back every night talking his ear off about Joe Toye. 

“As if he’d go out with me,” George sighed. 

Frank rolled his eyes and pushed away his laptop, he turned to face George who was now sat on his own bed, “If he didn’t like you he wouldn’t have agreed to hang out with you every night to tutor you in a class he doesn’t even take.” 

“How can you be so sure?” George countered, “Maybe he’s just helpful and nice.” 

“Are we talking about the same Joe?” 

George licked his lips, he knew that what Frank was saying made sense but he also knew that guys like Joe didn’t go for guys like him and he didn’t want to get his hopes up.

  
  


 

 

George passed his Spanish class with a B, which was may higher than he thought he was going to get (that was all thanks to Joe), with his language credit under his belt he could drop the class and move on to something else. 

A downside of this was that now he wasn’t taking Spanish he didn’t have an excuse to see Joe every night of the week. Sure they were still friends and he could go see him whenever he wanted but the constant worry at the back of his mind that Joe didn’t want to see him after spending six weeks straight with him stopped him from doing so.

  


 

 

“Will you quit moping?” Bill complained and Joe silently drank his beer. 

“I’m not moping,” he denied. 

Bill gave him a look, “Your moping worse than Babe when Doris split up with him. Tell Ol’ Guarnere what’s bothering you.” 

“Nothing’s bothering me Bill,” Joe insisted. 

“Well if nothing’s bothering you then let me set you up on a date.” 

“What?” Joe nearly spit his drink, George instantly coming to hs mind but he pushed that away quickly. George would never go for a guy like him. 

Bill shrugged, “No matter what you say I can tell when one of my closest friends is moping. Maybe a date may cheer you up, you ain’t been with anyone in years.” 

“Because I don't want to be,” Joe but in. 

“Just give it a shot, if you don’t like it then fine I’ll admit I was wrong but just give it a shot. A’ight?” 

Joe sighed, “Fine.”

  


 

 

Joe sat across from the man in front of him, some short guy named Patrick who had paled at the sight of Joe and was now all jittery as they sat and waited for their order. “So where are you from?” he asked, deciding it was best to at least try and talk. 

Unfortunately the sudden noise had him practically jumping out of his seat, “Rockville. You?” 

“Pennsylvania,” Joe replied, internally screaming at this predicament. What was Bill thinking setting him up with Patrick? They had nothing in common and the kid looked like he would blow over with a strong wind. “So, what do you-” 

The door opened and he saw George, of all people, come in out of the cold. His heart stopped, his eyes darting back and forth between George and Patrick and feeling immensely guilty for being on a date despite the fact that he wasn’t even with George.

  


 

 

“Get it yourself, Bill,” George rolled his eyes as Bill parked up in front of a diner. 

“I will not, I’m driving your sorry ass to class. The least you can do is get the milkshakes,” Bill argued. 

“Fine, fine,” George grumbled as he hopped out of Bill’s truck and into the diner. 

Bill eagerly watched George walk into the diner where he could see Joe on his date with Patrick. After some snooping around he had gathered that Joe had been spending a lot of time with George and no longer was which was why he was probably moping. He had also overheard Frank complaining about George complaining and put together that the feeling was mutual, not one to let his friends suffer in silence he devised this plan to knock some sense into the two of them.

  


 

George spotted Joe just after he had ordered the milkshakes, a bright smile coming onto his face almost instantly. He walked over and stopped short when he saw another guy sitting across from him, “Hey, Joe,” he greeted his friend, “Who’s this?” 

“Patrick, Patrick O’Keefe,” the guy gave his name and George nodded. 

“My date,” Joe explained and George’s throat closed up. 

“What?” he choked out. 

“Bill set us up,” Joe added, his displeasure with the situation clear in his voice and on his face. 

George’s eyes flicked out the the truck Bill was currently sitting in, pretending like he wasn’t watching the scene unfold, “Oh really? Well, I’ll leave you to it.” 

“Or you could stay,” Joe blurted, cursing himself for being so obvious. George didn’t notice but Patrick did and shifted in his seat, as he looked between the two of them. 

George frowned as he looked at Patrick for a moment, “No, no. I’ve got class, I’ll see you around, Joe.” He quickly grabbed and paid for the milkshakes and left the diner, he got back into Bill’s truck silently. 

“Here you go,” he handed Bill his milkshake, a small frown etched on his face that made Bill shift uneasily. 

“What’s up?” he asked, wondering if his plan may not have gone entirely to plan. 

“Nothing, just ran into Joe. He was on the date you set him up on.” 

“Oh?” Bill prompted. 

George forced a smile onto his face but it didn’t reach his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I left them to it. Are you gonna drive or not?” 

Bill nodded and pulled out of the parking space, putting on the radio to fill the silence that George normally would have.

  


 

Joe watched the truck pull out and his shoulders deflated with a large sigh. “Look, Patrick, I’m sure you’re a great kid but I know neither of us want to be here.” He stood up and dug out some money from his pocket, “Sorry for wasting your time, get whatever you want,” he left the money on the table and walked out of the diner alone.

  
  


 

“Can you believe it?” George slammed the door to his dorm room shut, startling Frank and Lipton who were in there revising. 

“What happened?” Lip asked. 

“Bill set Joe up on a date! A date!” 

“So?” Lipton shrugged. 

“George is in love with him,” Frank supplied helpfully. 

George turned a bright red, “I am not!” he denied, his voice rising in pitch. 

Lipton gave him a sympathetic look, “Why don’t you just tell him that you like him?” 

“I’d rather not ruin our friendship, Lip.” 

“He might like you back.” 

“That’s what I’ve been telling him,” Frank chipped in. 

George shook his head, “He only likes me as a friend.” 

Lipton sighed and came to sit next to George, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “If you’re positive that he doesn’t like you that way then you just have to let it go. You can’t get angry of him going on dates, you don’t have any control over that part of his life. Sometimes you just have to grin and bare these things.” 

George ran a hand through his hair and groaned, “I know. Why do you have to be right all the time?” 

Lip smiled, “It’s my job to be. We were about to order pizza, you want some?” 

“Hell yeah,” George perked up, a real smile coming onto his face even if it wasn’t as big as it usually was.

  
  


 

George ran into Joe next in the library, he was reading through a textbook as he walked so didn’t notice the taller man until he crashed into him. Joe instinctively grabbed onto George’s upper arms to steady him and George could feel the warmth of Joe’s hands slipping through the layers her wore, Joe realised he was still holding onto George and dropped his hands quickly. “Hey, George,” he greeted, rubbing at the back of his neck. 

“Hi,” George smiled, “How was your date with.. Patrick, was it?” he forced the cheerful smile to stay on his face. 

“I, um, left pretty soon after you did, to be honest,” he admitted. 

“Why?” George frowned. 

Now or never, “Because I wasn’t interested in _him_ ,” Joe gave George  a pointed look. 

George caught the stress on the word, but not the look Joe gave him and felt his heart sink, he didn’t want to stick around to find out who this other guy was. “Oh, well, I wish you luck with this mystery guy,” he gave a hopefully encouraging smile and pushed past Joe quickly, not trusting himself to keep his true emotions hidden for much longer. 

“Mierda,” Joe swore, moving quickly after George, he grabbed his arm and twisted him around to face him. George quickly schooled his expression and gave Joe a ‘what’ look. Joe licked his lips, not knowing how to get the words out in a way that wasn’t a complete disaster, it was easier to say it in spanish. “No puedo sacarte de mi cabeza. Todo lo que hago me recuerda a ti. Sé que debería haber dicho esto antes, pero no lo hice porque soy un idiota. Realmente me gustas. Mierda, te amo.” 

George looked at Joe at a loss for words, “What does that mean?” he asked, though he definitely knew what those last two words meant. 

Joe leaned forward, cupping George’s face and kissing him trying to convey all the words and feelings into it. George closed his eyes and kissed back, his hands resting on Joe’s chest his mind racing a mile a minute as he took everything. The way Joe’s fingers tangled in his unruly hair. Joe’s lips moving softly yet firmly against his own. The lingering scent of Joe’s cologne. Joe moved his arm down to curl it around George’s waist and pull him tight against him, George had no problem with it, his hands moving across Joe’s chest and down his arms. Each of them trying to get more and more of each other. 

They broke apart for air and rested their foreheads against each other, “It means I like you, a lot” Joe panted softly, looking into George’s brown eyes. 

George ducked his head and blushed, “I like you, too,” he grinned up at Joe, leaning up to kiss him again. When they pulled apart again George smiled, “Hey, Joe.” 

“What?” Joe raised an eyebrow. 

“Te amo,” George repeated. 

Joe couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face, he shook his head slightly and kissed George quickly. “I’ve got to get to class,” he said regretfully. 

“Skip it,” George whined, lacing his fingers with Joe’s 

It was tempting but he had a paper due, “Can’t. Come by dorm later?” 

“You got it,” George agreed quickly. Joe kissed him quickly again, he wouldn’t ever get enough of him, he untangled himself for George and made his way down the hall to his class. “I’ll see you later,” George called after him, “You gonna teach me more Spanish?” he had a shit eating grin on his face.

“Much more than that,” Joe winked at him as he turned the corner, a small smile on his face for the rest of the day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Spanish translations:
> 
>  
> 
> Hello, my name is Joe. What’s your name? 
> 
> My name is George.  
>  
> 
> \--  
> What is in your school? 
> 
> There is dorm rooms and classrooms 
> 
> What else is there? 
> 
> There’s a library.  
> 
> \-- 
> 
> Tell me about yourself. 
> 
> My name is George and I am from Rhode Island. I have nine brothers and sisters, I am the eldest. I have brown hair and brown eyes At school I took Spanish and computer classes. 
> 
> Tell me about your college. 
> 
> My college has dorms where I sleep, I share my room with my friend Frank. There is also a soccer field, but I do not go there because I do not like sports. There are seven buildings on campus, each of which has four floors. 
> 
> What do you do in your free time? 
> 
> In my spare time I like to talk to my friends Joe and Carwood. I like to watch movies at the movies or put video games on the weekend, unfortunately during the week I have a lot of work from home so I do not get much free time. 
> 
> Films.
> 
> Films. 
> 
> Films. 
> 
> Films. 
> 
> \--  
> Fuck. 
> 
> I can’t get you outta my head. Everything I do reminds me of you. I know I should have said this earlier but I didn't because I'm an idiot. I really like you. Fuck, I love you.
> 
> I love you.


End file.
